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With research staff from more than 60 countries, and offices across the globe, IFPRI provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in developing countries.

researcher spotlight

Kalyani Raghunathan

Kalyani Raghunathan is Research Fellow in the Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion Unit, based in New Delhi, India. Her research lies at the intersection of agriculture, gender, social protection, and public health and nutrition, with a specific focus on South Asia and Africa. 

Where we work

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Where we work

IFPRI currently has more than 600 employees working in over 80 countries with a wide range of local, national, and international partners.

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Projects

The Integrated Food Policy and Research Program (IFPRP) implemented by IFPRI-led Joint Venture with Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign combines policy research with capacity strengthening to tackle all four aspects of food security – availability, access, utilization, and stability – in a holistic and sustainable approach. The program’s cross-cutting research activities will focus on a full spectrum of food policy considerations – storage and transport, market and policy analysis, and capacity building and outreach.

IFPRP will closely work with the Ministry of Food, Directorate General of Food (DG Food) and Directorate General of Food Planning and Monitoring Unit (DG FPMU) to provide research based recommendations enabling the government to initiate most effective and efficient food policies. In addition, the project also aims to enhance the analytical competency of food cadre government officials through on the job trainings, in-country trainings and overseas trainings which in turn will encourage them to apply their knowledge in formulating and adopting best policy practices specific to food storage management and food distribution policies. In doing so, the program will build synergies with key government agencies and institutes and with the private sector.

The 5-year long Integrated Food Policy and Research Program is a part of the Ministry of Food’s Modern Food Storage Facilities Project, financed by The World Bank.

Project duration: 2015 – 2020

Contact

Shahidur Rashid

Donors and funders

World Bank

Project partners

Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Publications

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Effectiveness of current and alternative procurement modalities: An evaluation of the effectiveness of current and potential alternative grain procurement modalities, and development of a framework for stock turnover

2024Rashid, Shahidur; Mustafa, Shoumi; Kabir, Razin Iqbal; Shaima, Nabila Afrin
Details

Effectiveness of current and alternative procurement modalities: An evaluation of the effectiveness of current and potential alternative grain procurement modalities, and development of a framework for stock turnover

This report has been prepared as one of the deliverables of the Bangladesh Integrated Food Policy Research Program (BIFPRP) implemented by the Ministry of Food, Government of Bangladesh under a World Investment for Modernizing Food Storages Facilities in the country. The key arguments and recommendations drawn up for the report are based on both quantitative and qualitative data. Food and agricultural policies have historically played a crucial role in triggering growth in many developing countries. While there were debates, public procurement and distribution of food are widely accepted as a “second best” solutions for countries characterized by markets and institutional failures. However, Bangladesh has done remarkably well in adjusting to changing realities and the country is now widely recognized for its agricultural policy reforms. But there is still room for further improvement and efficiency gains for which two broad sets of recommendation can be considered: 1) Pricing and procurement targets – Pricing in Bangladesh continues to be based on the average cost of production but with the application of satellite imageries, app-based small area estimation, the procurement price estimates can be improved substantially. Also, the current procurement target determination formula misses out on some key aspects of production, marketing, and macroeconomic parameters. The quota for each upazila is based on total production and milling capacities but it also needs to consider the net surplus to calculate how much could be procured in each Upazilas. 2) Alternative procurement modalities a) The report recommends changing this modality to Delivered to Destination Warehouse (DDW) through the open tendering method and undertaking pilots and learning from experiences to enhance efficiency can be important. b) Linking smallholders to markets through product aggregation has received renewed attention globally. Available data suggests that Bangladesh’s public procurement has thus far not managed to effectively integrate small farmers to its procurement system. To scale up nationally, we believe that more innovation in technology and a new institutional set up will be necessary. c) Implementing Delivered Duty Paid Modality on a pilot basis where the seller assumes all responsibilities and costs for delivering the goods to the named place of destination. d) Piloting Deficiency Payment Method as an effective method to provide both income and price to farmers of a wide range of agricultural commodities. Two key instruments of implementing this method would be Marketing Assistance Loan (MAL) and the Loan Deficiency Payment (LDP), which are tools available to the farmers. A recent report by the NITI Aayog of India also makes a strong case for this procurement modality and we also argue in favor of undertaking this pilot.

Year published

2024

Authors

Rashid, Shahidur; Mustafa, Shoumi; Kabir, Razin Iqbal; Shaima, Nabila Afrin

Citation

Rashid, Shahidur; Mustafa, Shoumi; Kabir, Razin Iqbal; and Shaima, Nabila Afrin. 2024. Effectiveness of current and alternative procurement modalities: An evaluation of the effectiveness of current and potential alternative grain procurement modalities, and development of a framework for stock turnover. IFPRP Working Paper 16. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149087

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Southern Asia; Price Policies; Agricultural Production; Markets; Supply Balance; Smallholders

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Working Paper

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Working Paper

Diagnostic study of DG Food: An assessment of DG Food’s current mandates, performance, and capacity gaps, and a remedial program to strengthen the agency

2024Mustafa, Shoumi; Ali, A. M. M. Shawkat; Islam, Kazi Nurul; Dorosh, Paul A.; Rashid, Shahidur; Shaima, Nabila Afrin
Details

Diagnostic study of DG Food: An assessment of DG Food’s current mandates, performance, and capacity gaps, and a remedial program to strengthen the agency

This study conducts an assessment of the current mandates, performance, and capacity gaps of the Directorate General of Food (DG Food) and suggests remedies to strengthen the agency. Formed originally as the Supply Department in undivided Bengal under British rule in the early 1940s, the organization was named the Directorate General of Food by the provincial government of East Pakistan in 1956. Upon the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, DG Food became a part of the Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies and was later renamed as the Directorate General of Food in 1975. The last major reorganization of the agency took place in 1984. The current mandates and organogram are from 1984. As the custodian of the Public Food Distribution System (PFDS), DG Food plays an important role for the Government of Bangladesh (GoB). Under the Social Safety Net Programs (SSNP) of the GoB, DG Food ensures food security for vulnerable populations. In its sprawling countrywide network of 650-plus traditional warehouses, DG Food has an effective storage capacity of 1.9 million tons. In recent years, DG Food has procured and distributed approximately 3.0 million tons of foodgrains per year. A very large organization, DG Food has a sanctioned workforce of over 13,000 officers and employees, and an annual budget of approximately 1.5 billion U.S. dollars.

Year published

2024

Authors

Mustafa, Shoumi; Ali, A. M. M. Shawkat; Islam, Kazi Nurul; Dorosh, Paul A.; Rashid, Shahidur; Shaima, Nabila Afrin

Citation

Mustafa, Shoumi; Ali, A M M Shawkat; Islam, Kazi Nurul; Dorosh, Paul A.; Rashid, Shahidur; and Shaima, Nabila Afrin. 2024. Diagnostic study of DG Food: An assessment of DG Food’s current mandates, performance, and capacity gaps, and a remedial program to strengthen the agency. Integrated Food Policy Research Program Working Paper 14. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149092

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Capacity Assessment; Food Security; Rice; Wheat

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Working Paper

Resource thumbnail

Working Paper

Private investments in modern food storage: An economic feasibility analysis for private investments in modern food storage and potential public sector roles in promoting such investments

2024Chowdhury, Reajul Alam; Alam, Md. Monjurul; Ali, Md. Rostom; Awal, Abdul; Hossain, Shahadat; Kalita, Prasanta Kumar; Saha, Chayan Kumer; Winter-Nelson, Alex
Details

Private investments in modern food storage: An economic feasibility analysis for private investments in modern food storage and potential public sector roles in promoting such investments

Unprecedented growth in rice production in Bangladesh over the last four decades has outpaced the capacity of post-harvest operations, resulting in substantial grain losses. While production technology has changed dramatically over time, there has been relatively little private investment in transforming storage capacity in the country. This paper explores the lack of widespread private investment in improved grain storage and examines the potential for public support to stimulate greater private sector investment in modern storage. We calculate the returns to investment in bulk grain silos and hermetic cocoons that could upgrade warehouse storage, and calculate the grain loss that conversion to those technologies would prevent. We then assess the public support that would be required to trigger private investment in modern storage systems. Our analysis shows that storage in jute bags in warehouses or homes outperforms the modern technologies in terms of financial returns at observed prices. Our analysis further shows that given the observed price changes during the harvest and post-harvest periods from 2008 to 2018, cocoon and silo storage as well as conventional warehouse storage were unprofitable in most years and on average overall. Although seasonal variation in market prices for paddy is sometimes pronounced, the pattern of the variation is not sufficiently large or consistent to make paddy storage reliably profitable. Conventional warehouse storage implied an average loss of BDT 2,877/MT/season over the 20 seasons considered. Use of modern storage methods would have implied average losses of BDT 3,200/MT/season to BDT 4,950/MT/season, depending on technology used. These results imply that a public sector co-investment on the order of BDT 300/MT would be required to trigger a shift from conventional to modern storage by traders or millers. This shift would imply a reduction in grain loss of 30kg to 80kg per MT stored for a public cost of BDT 3.75 to BDT 10.00 per kilogram of loss avoided. To make it profitable for intermediaries to provide commercial storage services to farmers who currently store on-farm would require a much larger co-investment of about BDT 3,200/MT stored, implying BDT 40 to BDT 106 per kilogram of loss avoided. Removal of import tariffs on storage technologies or realization of a price premium for silo-stored or hermetically stored grain could be sufficient to encourage millers to adopt modern storage, but would be inadequate to trigger increased off-farm storage as an independent activity. There is anecdotal evidence of a price premium for paddy that has been stored using improved technology. Existence of such a premium could significantly reduce public support needed to trigger private investment in improved storage.

Year published

2024

Authors

Chowdhury, Reajul Alam; Alam, Md. Monjurul; Ali, Md. Rostom; Awal, Abdul; Hossain, Shahadat; Kalita, Prasanta Kumar; Saha, Chayan Kumer; Winter-Nelson, Alex

Citation

Chowdhury, Reajul Alam; Alam, Md. Monjurul; Ali, Md. Rostom; Awal, Abdul; Hossain, Shahadat; et al. 2024. Private investments in modern food storage: An economic feasibility analysis for private investments in modern food storage and potential public sector roles in promoting such investments Reajul. IFPRP Working Paper 12. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149118

Country/Region

Bangladesh

Keywords

Asia; Southern Asia; Crop Production; Food Storage; Investment; Rice

Language

English

Access/Licence

Open Access

Source

Source record

Project

Policies, Institutions, and Markets

Record type

Working Paper

Donors

World Bank

Team members

Shahidur Rashid

Shahidur Rashid

Director, South Asia Office, South
Asia, Development Strategies and Governance

Shahidur Rashid

Shahidur Rashid

Director, South Asia Office, South
Asia, Development Strategies and Governance

Razin Kabir

Razin Kabir

Senior Program Manager, Poverty,
Gender, and Inclusion

Nabila Shaima

Nabila Shaima

Research Analyst, Development
Strategies and Governance

Other

Topics/Countries

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